Saturday, August 2, 2014

Galactic Knights at Historicon #3: Attack on Squirrel Harbor

This was the first of the two scenarios for Galactic Knights that I ran at Historicon on Saturday night at 7PM. Ross played the Avarians, while Paul played the Carnivorans. Will from Monday Knight Productions dropped by from the Dealer area towards the end of the game to hang out, watch some of the game play, and hand out some cards good for a 15% discount for purchases from MKP until the end of this year. Good deal, especially if you're looking to build up several fleets!

Scenario #3: The Attack on Squirrel Harbor

Carnivoran Ships

Squadron 1: Destroyer Leader, 2 Destroyers

Squadron 2: Destroyer Leader, 2 Destroyers

Squadron 3: Batle Cruiser. 2 Cruisers

Squadron 4: dreadnought, Galactic dreadnought, Attack Carrier

At the Starbase: 4 "Cub" class Galactic Transports*

(I used two for the game at the convention, but four Transports would be better)

Avarian Ships

Squadron 1: Dreadnought, Attack Carrier, Battlecruiser

Squadron 2: Destroyer Leader. 2 Destroyers

Squadron 3: Destroyer Leader. 2 Destroyers

Background

A battalion of Carnivoran Marines, with their accompanying Transports, has been sent to Squirrel Harbor. The Avarians have learned of this, and have become convinced they are the spearhead of an invasion force destined for their outpost at Flyway. The Avarian United Worlds dispatch Admiral Fleetwing with orders to launch a swift attack of Squirrel Harbor, destroy the transports, and get out before suffering excessive damage. The Carnivorans are suspected to have overall force superiority in the area, but it is hoped that the sudden attack will catch the Kitties napping, and allow the mission to succeed without excessive Avarian losses. The Tweeties are fortunate to find the Transports docked, and many of the Marine off ship drinking at some of the less reputable establishments at the station.

Set Up

I used a playing area 5 feet wide by 6 feet deep. The four Carnivoran Transports start in different hexes, all adjacent to the Squirrel Harbor station, (which is 4 hexes from the Northern table edge and 15 hexes from the Eastern table edge) , and is otherwise ignored for the purposes of the game - it has no offensive weaponry). There is a wormhole (jump point) at the far Northeastern hex of the table.

Carnivoran Squadron 1 starts up to 12" (6 hexes) onto the table anywhere along the Northern edge, with an initial drift pf up to 1/4 the thrust of the ship with the lowest thrust in the fleet.

The Avarians enter anywhere along the Southern table edge, up to 12' (6 hexes) on, with an initial drift up to 1/2 of the thrust of the slowest ship in the fleet.

The Transports have an initial drift of zero. They power up and may move starting on the second turn. At the end of each Turn, the Carnivoran player rolls a D4; If the roll is less than or equal to that of the current turn, the next Carnivoran Military Squadron is placed at a random location along the Northern Table edge, with an initial drift of up to 1/2 the thrust of the ship with the lowest thrust in the Squadron.

Victory Conditions

There is a warp point/wormhole at the far Northeastern corner of the table. The Carnivoran objective is to exit as many of their Transports off the table via the jump point as possible. Moving a ship to the warp point hex is sufficient, as long as it has an intact hyperdrive! The Avarian Objectove is to destroy at least three of the iransports without losing more warships than the Carnivorabns in the process.

As art of thwe preparation for my Historicon games, I made these drift markwers for a better look and feel. This is the Avarian version.

I printed out the markers from the files available on the Galactic Knights Yahoo Group, and then cut them out.

I then took 40mm round Masonite bases and spay painted them black on both sides (Spray one side first, allow to dry over night, then flip over and spray the other sides.)

The cut out paper markers were then glued to 40mm round masonite bases using white glue, and sprayed with flat clear acrylic fixative.

On the reverse side of the markers, I uisd the stick end of cotton tip applicators (plentiful in my medical office - clean ones!)

The Carnivoran Transports begin running the gauntlet towards the Jump Point and safety!

Carnivoran reinforcements intervene. The Transports have maneuvered and Thrusted to be in position so that the DRIFT at the start of the next turn alone will allow them to escape to safety... if they survive the firpower of the opposing fleet!

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of memory once again by late Saturday night, so i didn't get any more pictures of the game. The Avarians concentrated their firepower of the Carnivoran military ships the first 2-3 Turns, but by turn 4 they had overwhelming firepower bearing on the lightly protected Marines. The last Transport went down on the last shot by the last ship of the game - a rousing finish!